The object of this proposal is the preparation and publication of a historical monograph on the efforts of the French government and the medical profession in the late eighteenth century to formulate and implement a national program for health related matters and the delivery of medical care. The focus of the study will be the Societe Royale de Medecine of Paris, a group of influential physicians who in the latter part of the eighteenth century worked in close cooperation with the royal administration to determine the major health problems of France and to develop appropriate alleviating and preventive measures. The study will also show how these new state sponsored activities and concerns prompted a significant debate about the structure and training of the medical profession which had important influence on the reorganization of French medicine and medical care undertaken during the Revolution.